CopyCat: Book I: The Beginning
by XiaShadow
Summary: When a young vigilante is found out by the Justice League, things get hectic as they learn of a war that is devestating the Universe. R&R, please.


I crouched in the shadows on the tall building I was hiding on, watching the scene below me unfold. Currently, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Batman were fighting against a group of villains. I could name four of the six: Cheetah, Dr. Polaris, Copper and that one villain who controlled ice. I forget her name. The other two I hadn't seen before, one with a green-flaming skull and the other was a giant ape.

Batman and Green Lantern had knocked out Cheetah, Copper, the skull guy and the ice girl. Unfortunately, the ape and Dr. Polaris had knocked them out too.

Dr. Polaris and the ape were currently beating up Wonder Woman and I decided that this was where I should intervene.

I jumped off of the building above them, diving towards the ground at an almost alarming pace. Note the word _almost_. I'm not one to get scared easily. I repositioned myself so that I would land feet first and slammed into the ground, leaving an almost-crater-like dent in the ground.

All sounds of battle stopped and I stepped out of the crater, jumped at the ape and punched him so hard so that he flew out of sight. That done I turned towards Dr. Polaris. He raised his arms to attract any metal on my person. But it was futile.

"Don't bother. I've done my research." I told him, my voice monotone. He took a step back and I took a step forward. He turned around and started running and I picked up a rock on the ground and flung it at his head, knocking him out.

"Nice shot." I heard Wonder Woman say from behind me.

I slowly turned to face her. Big mistake on my part.

Suddenly there was the sound of metal connecting with flesh and a starburst of pain exploded on the back of my head. Everything went blurry but I managed to identify Wonder Woman punch someone in blue… Dr. Polaris. I think he had a metal pole in his hand…

And then everything went black.

x.x

I woke up in the Watchtower. I knew that by the way that the doors were automatic and metal, plus the fact that it smelled sort of like a mix of the dentist and a Wal-Mart. I was in an empty room, just room though, not the medic room.

I jackknifed into a sitting position, ticked off at myself. I wasn't supposed to come to the Watchtower; I was just supposed to help Wonder Woman before she got herself killed.

I swung my legs off the bed and stood up, walking towards the door. I pressed the button on the wall next to the door. It didn't open. I scowled; they had probably locked the door so that I couldn't leave. So either I was a prisoner… or a patient. All depends on how you look at it. Unfortunately, my instincts were screaming at me that I was a prisoner and that I needed to escape. So I complied.

I curled my hand into a fist and punched the door, sending it flying into the wall across from where it was. My knuckles stung and I winced from my stupidity. I could've just forced it to slide open.

Needless to say, as soon as I had punched the door out alarms went off and various superheroes were running towards me. Soon I was cornered, my back to a wall and quite a few superheroes in front. Let's just say I hate being cornered or trapped. Apparently, the first time I morphed into an animal the instincts stayed.

I reverted into frantic animal mode; AKA I panicked.

My head was swinging from side to side, trying to find an opening. As soon as I realized there wasn't one that I could see, my vision went red. My hands curled into fists and I had to force myself to uncurl them. My hands started shaking, then my arms. Soon I was shaking everywhere, and having been in this position before I knew what was coming next and did the first thing I could think of to keep it from happening.

I morphed into a black leopard, bunching my back legs and leaping over the heads of the superheroes. They spun around and paused long enough to stare at me in shock before I sprinted forward. They followed soon after.

I heard the Black Canary take a deep breath and I jumped onto the wall, turning around to look at her just as a blast of her supersonic scream tore through where I had been just a second before.

I opened my jaws, still in black leopard form, and supersonic-screamed right back at her, knocking her down. The superheroes that were behind her also fell down.

"Get her!" I heard Kara, aka Supergirl shout.

A second later she was flying at me, her eyes glowing red. I snarled at her before I morphed back into my human form and ran. Even with her flying, I was still faster than her. She cursed under her breath and I felt heat come towards me. I spun around so that I could see it and jumped out of the way with a second to spare.

I then shot my own heat vision beam thing at Supergirl and she veered to the side to avoid it, looking at me in shock. I frowned and kept running. Soon I was at the launching bay. I glanced around, hopeful, and muttered 'yes!' under my breath when I saw what I was looking for: the Javelin.

Suddenly I realized that this was _way_ too easy. At least two of the founding members were always at the Watchtower. I knew that I was right when I was suddenly encased in a green bubble. I scowled and swore loudly.

"Stupid Green Lantern." I muttered and heard quiet chuckling. I spun around, my hand whacking against the green bubble, to see who else but the Green Lantern. Hawkgirl, aka Shayera, was hovering in the air next to him, her mace at the ready. Batman was on the ground, and from the way that there was still dried blood on his chin, he hadn't let the medics treat him. But that was normal for him, I guess.

My vision was still red and I knew that I had lost control. If I was still in control I would have just teleported myself out of the Watchtower. But animal instinct tends to like to do stuff the hard way.

I glared at the superheroes before clenching my hands into fists and slamming them into the green bubble. It stretched along with my fist but didn't break, but I kept up the attack. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Green Lantern grimace and hold his arm that had the ring with his other arm.

"Sedate her or something!" He shouted, annoyed.

Hawkgirl whacked her mace against her other hand, landing so that she was standing right in front of me and staring me in the eyes. "I know how to calm her down…" She said, almost darkly.

I grinned. For no reason what. So. Ever. Creepy, no?

I pulled my fist back, about to slam it into the green bubble again, when suddenly my vision went back to normal. I heard Shayera gasp and I realized that she had seen the change in my eyes. When I go into what I call Frenzy, which is basically when my animal instincts take over, my eyes turn red. They are normally a simple brown.

My head throbbed quite painfully and my fist, which was resting on the wall of the green bubble, uncurled and I dug my fingernails into it for support. It kept me from falling down, but I did slip down to my knees. A pathetic groan wormed its way out of my lips and I immediately pressed my lips into a firm straight line. My head still throbbed and I forced myself to raise the hand that was just hanging at my side to press against my temple, rubbing in small circles.

The Superheroes were looking from one to another, shock and confusion evident on their faces. Suddenly a new face appeared. J'onn. He took one look at me before ordering Green Lantern to release me. Green Lantern looked like he was about to protest, but J'onn just glared at him and Green Lantern sighed, but did as J'onn said.

The hand that had been clutching the green bubble grasped at air and fell down, and I was too preoccupied with the pain in my head to notice that J'onn had placed his hands on my head. He closed his eyes and I gasped.

"J'onn, don't!" I managed to get out, but it was too late. I could feel the Martian in my mind. He read what I was currently thinking, but when he tried to get into my past he flew away, shocked. Literally. Like, electrocuted.

"Why does no one listen to my warnings?!" I shouted at no one in particular. They all glanced at me before looking back at J'onn, who was standing now.

"You have quite the interesting mind, young one." He said, and I gritted my teeth.

"I'm not a 'young one.'" I spat at him, my eyes narrowing.

He just looked at me, all calm. "You look like a young one."

"Aren't you good guys supposed to be telling people not to judge people by their looks?" I shot back.

J'onn laughed, and it sounded strange, but familiar. That's what I get from my stupid past. I frowned, trying to push down the memories.

So to get my mind off of said memories, I looked at each superhero in the room, saying their name and their ability, or abilities, in my mind. It took about 20 or so minutes, and by the time I was done everyone was looking at me. Like they wanted me to say something. So I did.

"Where can you get some food in this joint?"

Quite a few supers laughed, but I noticed that Supergirl and Black Canary were glaring at me. They were probably waiting for me to apologize.

I looked at each of them in turn, slowly turning my head from one face to the other. They noticed I guess, because they shared a glance and Supergirl stepped forward a little.

"How did you use our powers?" She asked, and I tensed. What's with the interrogation? But then again, they have a point… I am pretty dang special.

"Its my power. I'm an extreme CopyCat." I answered, and they just kept looking at me. Guess they wanted more. I paused for awhile, waiting for them to ask.

The seconds ticked by, and when they realized that I wasn't going to say anything Green Arrow spoke up.

"What the heck is a CopyCat?"

The corners of my mouth twitched into a quick smile and I shook my head slowly. Silly superheroes. Never even heard of a CopyCat.

"It's a certain power, abundant in my world. If I watch someone use a power, or just do something cool like a backflip, I can do it too. Sometimes even stronger, because I can merge powers. Like, I have Superman, Supergirl, _and_ Wonder Woman's super strength. All combined in one. All in all, it totally rocks."

Yikes. Did I just say totally? I bit my lip, trying not to laugh about the humanness of it. Totally! I mean, come on. Totally? What kind of word is that?

"In your world?" Shayera asked, her head cocked to the side slightly.

"Yep. I come from Axelia. I don't want to go into too much detail, so I'll just tell you this: it was pretty much like Superman's story. My planet was about to blow up, I was sent here when I was about 3 or so. But unlike him, my parents came with me." I said, shrugging at the end.

The superheroes blinked. And blinked again. They blinked a few times before opening their mouths like they were going to say something, but would close it before uttering a word.

"What happened to your parents?" Stargirl spoke up.

I winced visably as the memory flared up inside my brain. I blinked once, forcing myself to calm down, before answering in a dull voice that sounded like I was giving the time of day. "Killed."

I heard a faint static sound, or rather, I finally decided to pay attention to it. My head cocked to the side as my eyes focused on GL's ear. Or rather, his communicator. I frowned as I was able to hear words. I didn't know Batman knew that many swear words.

A quiet chuckle escaped my lips, which was slowly turning up at the corners into a smile. Shayera looked at me curiously. I shrugged before speaking.

"I didn't know superheroes swore that much."

Needless to say, she and quite a few other superheroes were quiet for a few seconds, before they exploded in laughter. A few minutes passed before it was quiet enough for me to hear Batman again.

"What the fuck? She heard me? How could she hear me?" His questions rattled on and on and I got the impression that he was talking to himself. I was about to completely tune him out when he said, clearly speaking to Green Lantern, "Learn more about her. And have J'onn transport me up."

Green Lantern nodded to himself before seeming to remember that Batman couldn't see him and said a 'will do'. I coughed slightly. No one seemed to notice, they were all whispering to themselves. I cleared my throat loudly. The whispering stopped immedietly.

"Huh. And this happens to Superman all this time? That lucky duck." I murmured quietly to myself before looking up and saying more clearly, "So… what now?"

"We ask questions." A familiar voice spoke from behind me. Batman. Now that I thought about it, J'onn had disappeared a little bit ago.

"Damn, that transporter works fast!" I randomly said. It didn't have a point or a reason, I just said the first thing that came to mind.

"Let's take her to the council room." J'onn said, ignoring me completely.

"No. Question her here; the others should know about her too." Shayera protested, Green Lantern nodding.

Batman hesitated for a split second before nodding. J'onn shrugged.

Batman looked at me and I stared right back at him without blinking. He looked towards J'onn, and I had no doubt that they were talking telepathically. I shifted from my pained crouch so I was sitting, my legs crossed Indian style. I let my mind take inventory until I got to my telepathic powers.

_Whatcha talkin' 'bout? _I spoke in both of their minds. They jumped, their head snapping around to look at me. I grinned and waved goofily. "Hiya, Rich Boy!" I told Batman, my smile turning into a smirk. He glared, or at least I think he was glaring. Sort of hard to tell with his mask.

"How do you know who I am?" He growled at me, stepping forward and curling his hand into a fist.

"Whoa, Nessie. Chill." I said, putting my hands up in the universal 'relax, I won't hurt you' sign. Batman, or should I say Bruce Wayne, seemed to calm himself, standing up straight and uncurling his fist.

"How do you know who I am?" He asked again, this time in his normal, gruff voice.

"Pfft, its not that hard to figure out stuff. Let's just day I've done my research." I said eerily. For added fun, I tapped the side of my head with a finger.

"Who are you?" This time it was Shayera who spoke.

"I have many different names…" I said, my mind saying each one. Krystal. Chelsie. Kelsey. Amanda. Everyone who I hung out with gave me a name when I told them I didn't have one. Which was a lie, my parents called me a name. I decided to go with that one. "But you can call me Echo." I shrugged at the end of the sentence, they could call me MaryAnn for all I cared.

"Fine than, Echo. How old are you?" Batman asked.

"Thirteen." I answered and all the superhero's eyes went wide.

"You're _thirteen?!_ Holy cow, that's young!" Supergirl shouted.

I stood up and glared at her. "I'd back off if I was you, _Supergirl_, or I might just break your new truck. Or your nose, whichever you prefer."

She glared at me and stepped forward, her hands curling into fists at her sides. "Bring it on."

I decided to have some fun. "Oh, I brought, left it, picked it back up, returned it , wrapped it up for Christmas and I gave it to you."

She blinked before letting out a small laugh. "I don't know about you guys, but I think she should join the league."

I scoffed lightly. "I don't think the rest of the League could put up with more jokers. You guys already have Flash. And you gotta admit; Question is quite funny."

Supergirl laughed again, and swung her arm around so that it rested on my shoulders.

"We've _gotta_ go out sometime. I dunno, shopping?"

I made a horror-stricken face and shook my head no quickly.

Supergirl laughed again.

"Okay then. Movie it is."

I grinned.

"How 'bout The Eye?"

Supergirl grimaced, and shook her head. "No scary ones. How about… that new romance movie? With the rich girl and the poor guy?"

I fake gagged. "No. I _hate _chick flicks."

Batman coughed, and Supergirl quickly pulled her arm back and stepped back into the throng of Leaguers. Dang, that Batman has got some serious respect. Understandable, though, since he was frickin' Batman.

"What were your parents names?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I dunno. They never told me. Its… custom… I guess. In our world, only Parents know the true names of their children."

"Why?"

"Because in my world, at least I think its only in my world, it doesn't seem to matter here, names hold power. If someone other than your parents knows your name, they have complete control over you. All they have to do is say their name, and tell them what to do. And they cannot disobey."

Batman frowned. "You sure it doesn't work here?"

I bit my lip, pondering the question for a little bit. "Well, my parents told one person my real name, and when he said it I didn't feel the need to obey his every word."

"So, Echo is your… true name, correct?"

My stomach clenched for a moment at the sound of my name. "Yep." I said, ignoring the clench.

"Do you mind if we double check the True Name theory?" J'onn spoke up. I glared at him, and pushed down a snarl.

"Its not a _theory_, J'onn. But sure."

Supergirl suddenly spoke up. "Wait, how do you know his name? Everyone on Earth just calls him the Martian Manhunter."

"I told you, names hold power. I make it my first mission before I meet someone to figure out their true name. Although, Supergirl, _Kara_ is not your true name. And I don't think that Superman's earth name, or Kryptonian name, is his true one. Makes me curious."

Batman continued, "Okay, here we go: Echo, stand up."

My leg twitched, but that was it. I raised an eyebrow at Batman at the order.

"Wow, Bats. You kinda fail at the whole Slave Master thing. You could've told me to put every criminal in Gotham behind bars, but _nooo_, you tell me to stand up. _Lame_." I told him.

He growled, and I snickered. "Serously, Bats? _Growling?_ I thought bats chirped." At this, I could feel Batman's anger, and the other superheroes' shock at how 'un-respectful' I was being to Batman.

Suddenly, Batman's anger vanished. He sort of grinned at me. Wow. Batman _grinned_? Weird. Everyone turned to stare at him in shock, and I raised an eyebrow at him in surprise.

He shook his head slowly from side to side, and finally muttered, "So much like Robin."

"Hey! I do _not_ wear tights." I exclaimed increously. This made another quick grin flit over his features, before being cloaked in the normal Batman-ScowlTM.


End file.
